Take Action
Take action against the spraying of the herbicides on New Brunswick & Nova Scotia woodlands!
- Go HERE to download the petition against pesticide and herbicide spraying in New Brunswick. The DEADLINE for signatures is mid-August!
- Go HERE to sign the petition against pesticide and herbicide spraying in Nova Scotia.
- Fax, call, and email your politicians. Exercise your right to have input in the decisions that affect your health and well-being! Here are the names and contact information for leaders in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Sample letter is available below - but please note that letters in your own words are far more effective in getting your leaders' attention!
- Write a letter to the editor of your local paper.
Sample Letter to Your Leaders
Date
Dear LEADER'S NAME,
I am writing to demand that you put an end to herbicide spraying of our forests.
We feel that the risks to our health and environment outweigh any benefits of spraying. The active ingredient in the chemical you permit sprayed, glyphosate, has been linked to respiratory problems, birth defects, miscarriage, and cancer. A study by eminent oncologists Dr. Lennart Hardell and Dr. Mikael Eriksson of Sweden has revealed clear links between glyphosate and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a form of cancer.
Glyphosate-based herbicides have also been shown to be lethal to many species of amphibians, fish, insects, and nitrogen fixing bacteria. This pesticide has been placed under restrictions in Denmark due to research done by the Denmark and Greenland Geological Research Institution, which shows that glyphosate has the potential to contaminate water supplies. There are many examples across Canada where municipalities have made the decision to stop the use of cosmetic pesticides due to human health and environmental concerns.
We question the use of indiscriminate clear-cutting and conversion of our forests into softwood monocultures through the use of herbicide spraying and other even-aged silvicultural practices. There are many ways to manage our forests that are less destructive and that create more wealth and employment in Nova Scotia.
We would like a full public debate, informed by peer-reviewed scientific research, into adopting a pesticide code similar to Quebec’s, where forestry applications of chemical pesticides on Crown land have been banned, and on private land, require public hearings and environmental assessments.
In the interim, please do not approve any more herbicide applications for spraying our forests. I look forward to receiving your response on this critical issue.
Respectfully,
YOUR SIGNATURE
YOUR CONTACT INFO
On March 22, the Sandy Pond Alliance, a coalition that includes the Natural History Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, Mining Watch Canada, and The Council of Canadians and Sierra Club, launched a legal challenge questioning the use of the Fisheries Act to authorize the destruction of Sandy Pond and other waterbodies across the country, converting them to waste dumps for mines and mineral processing plants.
Sandy Pond, located on the south side of Long Harbour in Placentia Bay (located approximately 127 km from St. John's) is one of sixteen water bodies in Canada slated to become a dumps for mining and mineral processing wastes. According to the assessment document accepted by Newfoundland and Labrador's Ministry of Environment and Conservation, Sandy Pond is to be damned as a receptacle for wastes from a nickel processing plant, the Inco Hydrometallurgical (Hydromet) Processing Plant.
The proposed plant will cost $800 million to build and will process approximately 110 million pounds of nickel, five million pounds of cobalt, and 15 million pounds of copper, and is part of the large Voisy's Bay mining project.
The proposed nickel processing project may have severe and lasting environmental impacts, including:
- destruction of Sandy Pond for the disposal of 381,000 tonnes per year of nickel processing waste, including sulphur (approximately 60,000 tonnes per year), copper, and nickel;
- effluent totaling 3 million cubic metres per year will be discharged to the marine environment; - during normal operations, 600 cubic metres (600,000 litres) per hour of water will be drawn from Rattling Brook Big Pond;
- increased risk of accidents and displacement of fishers from traditional fishing grounds caused by increased vessel traffic Placentia Bay. With proposed projects such as a new refinery, proposed LNG trans-shipment facility, and this nickel processing plant, Placentia Bay will receive over 1300 vessels per year, or an average of 7 ship transits per day.
This is your chance to nominate an independent commissioner to review Canada’s unconventional oil production, including offshore drilling and the tar sands.
All parties voted to hold a review of unconventional oil production, but as of yet no one has been appointed. So we here at Sierra Club Canada thought this would be an opportunity to ask Canadians.
Send us your nomination. Click here.
Recently, the Department of Natural Resources announced it would cut the successful ecoENERGY Retrofit – Homes program. At the same time, Minister of Natural Resources, Christian Paradis, met with the asbestos industry to announce the government would provide $250 000 to promote this hazardous product in developing countries.
Sierra Club Canada is asking you to email Minister of Natural Resources, Christian Paradis, and tell him the government should be supporting sustainable programs like ecoENERGY and not the deadly asbestos industry >>>
The National Energy Board has an opportunity to get serious about sustainability of ecosystems and communities in the Mackenzie Valley as it considers a possible licence for the Mackenzie Gas Project in hearings this week.
Sierra Club Canada is asking that you email the National Energy Board and Environment Minister Jim Prentice TODAY!
Please join Sierra Club Canada in calling for the swift passage of Bill C-311, entitled An Act to ensure Canada assumes its responsibilities in preventing dangerous climate change (the “Climate Change Accountability Act”).
Sierra Club Canada is urging all Canadians to email and/or call Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff >>>
Click here to send a message to the Mayor and Council from our convenient email-writing tool.